This may be useful, or serve no purpose, depending on your use of Social Media to promote your message, or your business. Below you’ll see an embedded Tweet that came from a post I put on Facebook, with a link back to an article on my personal blog. So, posting this here now, in some ways closes the loop. Perhaps I need a graphic to illustrate this concept?

Recently, my business has seen an increased focus on website and blog creation. I’m pretty sure my blogs would see far less traffic if I did not share my posts on Social Media. If you’d like to have more visitors to your business website, it makes sense to create content that helps people find you. The end result is the KLT value you get by giving prospects the opportunity to see and hear what you are willing to share about your interests. On my personal blog, I talk about anything that moves me (at times, even painful topics) that merely serve my need to continue writing.

OK, this is almost fun. You have to know a bit about your platform and how to read and follow technical instructions.

If you are on WordPress, there may be a facility built into your theme. Or, you may want to install a plugin, like the one I’m using on Mousehelp.org – which makes it pretty easy to manage this task. You may also want to simply follow the instructions provided by WordPress, if you are not squeamish about modifying code.

If you are working with the HTML on your website directly, as I do with rouzell.com, you’ll need a bit of code, like this:

With free and easy, you don’t host your content, so you don’t have complete control over its destiny.

With free and easy, you don’t pay for hosting and you don’t have as much to learn* about WordPress.

Inexpensive and not as easy means you pay a nominal cost to purchase a domain and host your blog – this gives you complete control over your content.

Inexpensive and not as easy means you have a few more things to learn about managing your blog.

*You’ll learn WordPress to some degree with either, or both options – it is an imperative.

We are going to explore the 1st option here.

First, let’s oversimplify things.

Here are three steps for starting a blog.
None of these is any easier than the others, and each step depends upon your approach, preconceived notions, and decision making skills.
Leaving creativity out of this process will make things go quickly and get us to our ultimate goal of having a fully functional blog where we can then feel free to express our creative skills.
So, we build the frame, then paint the picture! (Put down your paintbrush and think, “structure.”)

Think of your topic, subject matter, what you plan to present; and name it. (Ex. mygrandkidsphotos or mynovelapproach or cookingwithkate, etc.)

Using that name, create your blog on WordPress.com. (You must be able to log into email to get through this step!)

Customize your blog and modify existing content, or create new content. You are now a blogger!

Seriously, that is all it takes to get started.
These three steps, with details, are shown below.

Think of your topic, subject matter, what you plan to present, and name it.

One of my business associates, from DNP, Greg Kain, asked me about a drop-down menu and I had to step into the “way back machine“, to rediscover my HTML and CSS roots. In the end, I created a web page to demonstrate the simplest approach to a drop-down menu, based on an example provided by one of my many hosting providers.

My issue was that I could not remove the directory “windows.old” after upgrading to Windows 10.

So, I asked Cortana and got this:Delete your previous version of Windows
One month after you upgrade to Windows 10, your previous version of Windows will be automatically deleted from your PC. However, if you need to free up disk space, and you’re confident that your files and settings are where you want them to be in Windows 10, you can safely delete it yourself. Keep in mind that you’ll be deleting your Windows.old folder, which contains files that give you the option to go back to your previous version of Windows.
Deleting your previous version of Windows can’t be undone.
Go to Start, enter Settings in the search box, and then select Settings.
Select System > Storage > This PC and then scroll down the list and select Temporary files.
Under Previous version of Windows, select Delete previous versions and then select Delete.

Help from Microsoft – Was this helpful?

Not just, “yes,” but heck yeah!!!

Pointing out the difference between Settings and Control Panels seems obvious to me, now. Because of my experience, I’m prone to taking shortcuts with Windows. So, I was thinking that if I was to open the System (settings), why not just click start and type, “system” in the search field – which I did. Then I chose the System control panel and could find no place there that would allow me to get to “storage.” However, if I type “storage” into the search field, I am presented with “Storage, System settings” as the top result. Choosing that puts me on the path to solving the problem, in accordance with the instructions provided by Microsoft.

Answering my own question about why I speak so passionately about blogging…. Last night, I was privileged to be part of an engaging conversation about things related to social media and I launched into an impassioned explanation of how blogging connects your personality to your business. This was one of those times when I wished I had had the opportunity to capture my words, so I could more easily put them into a blog post!

Now, I’ll have to ponder further how to put into words and pictures the idea of “know you, like you, trust you….” and how to achieve that through writing a blog and posting on social media.

For something a bit more personal, check out my other blog.
“Because I write, I am.”

Think of your blog as a history preservation project! Imagine your grandchildren wanting to know more about what grandma or grandpa was doing or thinking all those years ago, when the Internet was young. Without even trying, you’ll be providing a useful online legacy for future generations to enjoy!

If my daughter’s boys ever stumble upon rouleywrites.com – they will have the opportunity to read about the movies I’ve seen, the music I like, the opinions I’ve shared, and the interests I’ve shown, through the posts I’ve written there.

This is one of my favorite expressions from Toastmasters – one of their many taglines, mottoes, whatever you call them – it simply speaks to me!
The same is sometimes said about writing, or writers. As in, “With this new novel, he has really found his voice!”
Here’s hoping you’ll find yours. If any part of this newsletter resonates with you, I’d be pleased to receive your comments, feedback, helpful advice, etc.Send an email: mousehelp@rouzell.com

This image is one of my favorites, purchased many years ago, to aid in promoting a cause. Click the image for details on this story. Here are the basics: I’m planning to create a website we can all use to capture and catalog the stories our elders have to tell. Following the theme of this newsletter, it further illustrates the point made in paragraph one. The challenge is getting younger (read, tech-savvy) people on board, perhaps those seeking a career in journalism, to do the writing. Where we live, in Coachella Valley, there is likely an unlimited source of older people with stories to tell. Now, all we have to do is connect the young writers with the story-tellers, scan a few photos, and sell subscriptions to the site to support the whole thing. We are done!

This weekend, I’m going to craft an email message to send to my desert networking professionals. With that message, I am going to offer some of my time, “for free” – not that I have free time…. What I would like to do is interview anyone who is interested and write an article that I will post on my blog. This article (if I do it right) will have plenty of opportunities for links back to the affected business website.

I’m not clear on the benefit to me for providing this service, but I’m hoping to understand that at some point. Clearly, the original goal here is to see if anyone will actually accept this offer of free service. Perhaps something that is offered at no cost is also perceived to be of no value.

I’ll keep you posted on the results of this experiment. You will, of course, have to come back to my blog, my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter, or any of the other places I’ll post about this, to keep up with progress. Maybe that is one of the few benefits I will receive by doing this here.